Since purchasing my first Mac mini over a year ago I have enjoyed this site's forums and galleries as wonderful resources to a new mini owner.

Needless to say, I believe we all share a common love for the Mac mini's high-quality audio and video which ultimately leads to an extraordinary multimedia experience.

So, today I am announcing two new sites dedicated to the use of Mac mini as the central component in a Home Theater setup.

minihtpc.infobuild-your-own-home-theater.com

I realize my sites are merely in their infancy but here are the goals for my sites and what I would like to contribute to the community:

1. Learn from my users regarding the creation (and ultimately optimization) of a Mac mini-based ultimate Media Center and Home Theater setup
2. Possibly share tidbits of information I have learned from my own experience in using the Mac mini
3. Offer users a downloadable book on how to integrate the Mac mini into their own custom Home Theater
4. Provide an updated newsletter with news nuggets and usage tips for users of all skill levels
5. HAVE FUN - GET INVOLVED! I need your HELP!

Thanks for checking out my sites! Please get involved - I welcome all comments and suggestions to make them superb resources for the entire Mac mini community.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. I am basically trying to build up the sites with information but I am a one-man show and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

To be honest, I would really like to see some involvement and determine if there is a demand for my book that I am currently finishing. I just wanted to gauge interest via this forum so that I can speak to what "the people" want to see or learn.

Whoa there! - So I may have not been an active poster or even active member for the two years since I have been following this awesome site but I for one think there is room for growth beyond one exhaustive site.

Furthermore, I am not trying to spam anybody. I figured people would think that way and unfortunately I see that you have. I am simply trying to get some additional involvement and share my knowledge in how I constructed my own Mac mini setup.

Can you not respect someone's opinion and not think you are being scammed or spammed at every corner of the Internet?

Obviously I should have known there would be those without an open mind to the prospect of an additional site regarding Mac minis as HTPCs. I am merely one who was caught up enough in the excitement of successfully building his own system that I want to share the experience with others via site and forthcoming book.

I don't deem that as an effort to spam, I see it a passionate effort to inform.

Well, if you wanna attract the biggest audience you have to be able to hold the people from the AVS forums, the Plex forums, the XBMC forums, and this one. I kinda think that most people wanna stick to one site.

For example, people ask Plex questions here, and people at the Plex forums ask questions about the mini.

You made some excellent suggestions too. I don't see much that the site can be improve upon as I have been a "lurker" (as you would call it I am sure) for two plus years and found the site to be a tremendous resource.

I just wanted to do my own thing and feel good about it. In the end, I will derive satisfaction out of my ventures regardless of if it is deemed a successful site by onlookers or forum "flamers".

That fact is the admins of this site have put everything into building this site and they've never asked for anything in return. Using this site to promote your own, which is clearly a conflict of interest, does absolutely nothing to benefit this site.

Put the shoe on the other foot. You build your site up for a few years and then let members post threads to promote sites that are competition to your own site. No matter how enthusiast those members are, you'll likely delete the thread, just like the admins will likely delete this one.

Obviously, you are biased in your opinion. I fully respect the efforts of this site and am in NO way trying to compete with them for anything. What is there to compete for - eyeballs and ad clicks?

Come on and get real - If the admins truly think I am a threat to them then let them delete this thread. But maybe (just maybe) they have enough respect for an enthusiastic, entrepreneurial mind to keep this thread and ignore your truly disrespectful comments.

I pretty much agree with SC. I've always been a fan of this site and the AVS forums, so that's mostly where I participate.

I also have friends here and respect for the admins. They have done such a wonderful job over the years of running and maintaining this site.

I also agree with Bandit. It seems strange that your first post here is to promote your own website instead of helping someone and/or contributing in another way. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but it seems a little disingenuous. JMHO_________________My Setup

Now, I'm not saying having a super site isn't a bad idea, I just think that most people aren't gonna go for it. I'll say it's for two basic reasons. The first I already mentioned - said forums already exist, and the other being people are silly. Silly can be either stupid, or maybe something else. I'm silly because I don't like spreading myself too thin with too many forums, and I'm fairly set in my ways
I'm already on two car forums(irregularly though) , two WWII gaming forums, two older gamer forums, and one other speciality forum. I dropped the other Mac forum that I've been a part of since the 90s for 123macmini so I just have one Mac forum and that's enough for me. I just don't think I'll find a better community than the community that exists here. I never felt a groove at the Plex forums, but they have a great community also. Then there is the Handbrake forum. I live in terror of every post I make there being torn apart by the admins and mods. Videohelp has a pretty good community, well pretty good even though it has mostly Windows users....

I think the task you have set up for yourself is rather great, and building it up will take a great deal of time and energy. Look up mmr's post about The Ultimate Mac Mini Media Center guide, and he has a pretty outstanding write up in his link. It's a good thing I looked up that link - I've been wondering about adding some gaming to Plexes Application section.

I don't have an issue with this thread, but it's more of a personal announcement to the Mac community than one in need of help or discussion. Plus, I can sort of see where this one is heading now and don't want it jamming up our main HTPC forum. Which by the way, will soon be linked to another section of the website.

Good luck with the blogs and book phishee. Let me know when the latter is finished.

Thanks for the other comments Smithcraft, Bandit Bill, Curt and CaliforniaMini. We appreciate your efforts in making this a better community._________________Brian
123Macmini.com